Streaming the State of the Union address

Tonight is the State of the Union address. If you're a streamer, and you want to watch it, you have lots of options. The address is at 9:00 PM ET.

Antenna (Free)

If you have an antenna, you can watch the State of the Union address from one of the broadcast networks.

• ABC
• CBS
• Fox
• NBC
• PBS

Peacock ($5/month)

Coverage from NBC is available, since Peacock and NBC are owned by NBC/Universal

Sling TV ($35 Orange) ($35/Blue) ($50 Orange + Blue)

A variety of networks carried by Sling TV will offer the address, on either the Orange, Blue, or Orange+Blue package.

• CNBC (Blue+News Extra package) (+6/month)
• CNN (Orange, Blue)
• Fox News (Blue)
• MSNBC (Blue)

Vidgo ($55/month)

• ABC
• Fox
• Fox News
• MSNBC

YouTube TV ($65/month)

• ABC
• CBS
• Fox
• NBC
• PBS
• CNBC
• CNN
• Fox News
• MSNBC
• Telemundo
• Univision

Fubo ($65/month)

• ABC
• CBS
• Fox
• NBC
• CNBC
• Fox News
• MSNBC
• Telemundo
• Univision

Hulu+Live TV ($70/month)

• ABC
• CBS
• Fox
• NBC
• CNBC
• CNN
• Fox News
• MSNBC
• Telemundo

DirecTV Stream ($70/month)

• ABC
• CBS
• Fox
• NBC
• CNBC 
• CNN
• CSPAN
• Fox News
• MSNBC
• Telemundo
• Univision

Finally a standalone sports package, but is it enough?

For many sports fans that stream, a standalone sports package -- one that doesn't require other non-sports packages -- would be wonderful thing. Today, if you want to stream ESPN, you have to have a subscription to a service such as Sling TV, YouTube TV, Vidgo, Fubo, or DirecTV Stream. The cheapest of those includes a lot of non-sports. In fact, all of those simply streaming cable-like packages. The difference is that you use the Internet to get them, and subscriptions are one month at a time, not years at a time.

You can get packages without sports, the most popular of those are Philo and Frndly.TV, but you can't get one that's only sports. Fubo started as a mostly-soccer channel. Fubo, futbol. See? But it became simply another streaming-cable package. Well, mostly. It's still pretty sports heavy, and not just soccer.

Over the last few year, many of these live-streaming/streaming-cable packages dropped the regional sports networks. Fox Sports Net channels disappeared from the live streaming services after Fox sold them. They finally became Bally Sports networks. And guess who is launching a steaming sports package? Bally.

In a meeting recently, Chris Ripley, the CEO of Sinclair, which owns Bally Sports, said they would offer live streaming packages this year.

Our current expectations are for the launch of streaming services with content currently available on our RSNs for 5 Bally Sports RSNs with MLB teams in the first half of 2022. We expect to launch our remaining Bally Sports RSNs in the second half of the year, as well as features only subscription.

This isn't what I particularly want, as my primary interest is college football, which currently means ESPN. But, it's a start. And it does give lots of sports fans an option they didn't have before.

Sinclair, to my understanding, hasn't been thrilled with how their purchase of the Fox regional sports networks has worked out. I don't know how this will work out. But if it is a success, and it entices other companies to offer standalone sports packages that include major sports, this would be what sports fans want.

If that does come, I certainly don't want these smaller audience packages to go away. I don't want the lesser watched sports offerings to go away. The content you find on the regional sports networks do not have widespread audiences. Regional is a part of the name for a reason. And the lesser watched sports, such as what you find on ESPN+ has an audience. I don't want that to go away. I want ESPN to expand its coverage, not necessarily into ESPN+ -- how it happens isn't as important as that it happens.

This year's launch by Bally is a good thing. I hope it succeeds. That would be good news for many sports fans. I would really like to have options for standalone sports packages in my Streaming Life.

A new chair!

I got a new office chair!

Yeah, I get it. Big deal. It's a chair.

Well, yeah, it really is a big deal. In more ways than one.

Not every chair holds someone that's over 200 lbs. Of course, I'm 6'2" so I need a chair that's not only more sturdy for heavier, but for taller as well. Sitting in most desk chairs makes me feel like I'm in a kindergarten chair. Really, my knees should not be higher than my waist.

I had a used chair that a good friend passed to me several years ago. But all the years of usage in my home office -- I worked from home part time for years, then full time for a while -- it gave out. It was old when I got it; he had replaced his and passed his still-good one to me. Only after a few years, it had reached end of life.

So, a few years ago, I bought a cheap office chair. Mostly because I'm cheap. Well, it didn't last all that long. It was one of those "under 200 lbs" chairs. I should have read the print better before I ordered it.

This time, I paid attention. And I did something I thought I'd never do. I got a deck chair. Just kidding. I got a gaming chair.

Now, I'm not a gamer. Sure, I'll play Sudoku on my phone first thing in the morning to get my brain running, but not much more than that. A gaming chair? Pshaw!

Well, I did some looking around, and then it occurred to me that these gamers spend a lot of time in their chairs. They get lots of wear. If the reviews from actual purchasers are pretty good, I figure the chair will be too. So I ordered one.

Now, it is pretty plain looking. It looks more like an office chair than a gaming chair. Almost completely black. Just my style.

It arrived this week. I found it under the carport when I got home. There it was, bearing the words "two man lift" right on the box.

Challenge accepted.

I got it in the house with minor difficulty. It was a decent size box and a little bulky. But, after supper, I put it together and sat in it. I was in love.

But seriously, I like the chair. I don't watch TV from my office, but it is where my computers are located. It's where I'm typing this. And while it's not directly a part of my Streaming Life, it is a good addition to my regular life.

ION Mystery is the new name of Court TV Mystery, but that's not the real mystery

I saw a news release from ION announcing the name change of the Court TV Mystery channel. They're all owned by the same company, so it's a name change. Or a rebranding. Or something.

If you don't know the background of ION, it started as Pax TV, entered and left deals with NBC, changed the name a couple of times, settling on ION, although the capitalization changed a few times. The news release from earlier this week uses all capital letters, so for now, so will I.

"Mystery has added popular procedural dramas to its schedule and with the network's programming now more connected with the hall of fame line-up of hit dramas on ION, aligning the two networks creates increased consumer recognition, expands brand affinity and cross-promotional strength, and facilitates the ability to naturally share content and more," said Lisa Knutson, president of Scripps Networks

They even had a video.

[Link]

Here's the mystery, to my thinking. Does this mean the Court TV brand is now considered less valuable by ION? Is this a way to latch on to ION's popularity? Or is this ION's way of becoming edgier?

I'm not sure what's going on. Maybe they think there are too many brands. After all, they own Court TV, Newsy, Bounce, Defy TV, Grit, Laff, and TrueReal. I can pick up most of these on local channels. Some are available on free streaming services. The content does offer some variety of stuff to watch for free, either over the air or via free services.

I'm glad there is a family-oriented option for these kinds of networks. It's good when everyone has choices of what to watch. It makes everyone's Streaming Life much more enjoyable.

Raspberry Pi streamer Update 4

I've been wanting to build a Raspberry Pi streaming device. Why? Because it can be done, of course. And I actually did build one. I had some issues, but I wondered if it might be that I used a smaller Raspberry Pi than intended. You see, the requirements are a 4 GB device, and I only had a 2 GB device. Still, it worked. Well, mostly worked.

I ordered a 4 GB device and it arrived, but it had issues, and I've sent it back for replacement. Now, it'll probably be a while before it comes in, but I actually ordered a kit (the one with the board that is being replaced) and a standalone board. The standalone board works. Well, it does and it doesn't.

When I put a regular Raspberry Pi OS in the device, it boots and runs just fine. But, if I put the card with the Android TV setup, the card that runs in the 2 GB device, it won't boot.

Some research shows that the build for the Android 11 TV OS is not compatible with newer boards.

You can use LineageOS 19 builds that ships with 5.10 kernel and newer firmware. LineageOS 18 builds will always stick with 5.4 kernel and firmware to match the kernel version (which is apparently too old for your hardware revision).

So, the simple solution is to get the Android 12 version, since that is compatible with the hardware, right? No, not right. You see, while the Android 12 software should run, it doesn't include access to the Google Play store, meaning no apps. That's a problem. But maybe not for long. The GApps page says a version for Android 12 is "coming soon."

This puts my Raspberry Pi 4 streamer project on hold. Sure, the 2 GB board works, but there are issues with some important apps not working as they should. It could be the underpowered board, so I can't yet say it's a waste of time. I'll find out soon enough, when the GApps update arrives. Until then, my Streaming Life does not include a Raspberry Pi streamer.